"Hello There!"
My name is Sappho. (Pronounced Saf-oh) I’m a sheep. It’s true! I live in sunny Palm Harbor, Florida, where my parents rescued me from a slaughterhouse. See, I was a skinny, underfed little lamb, too small to ‘process.’ I got put to the side, and got put up for adoption. It was scary. Really scary. I didn’t want to be around people. I certainly didn’t trust anyone who wasn’t a sheep.
When the people who would become my mom and dad went to get me, I was living in a small enclosure with two other sheep: my best friend, Mama Bea, and her lamb, Baby Belle. It was pretty uncomfortable. It took quite a bit of persuasion to get us into my future dad’s Jeep. But, eventually, the three of us climbed in and off we went.
We drove for more than an hour, on the turnpike, through the big city, and into my parent’s driveway. Turns out, they had been busy. They had built a fancy home for us: our “Sheep Shak,” and an all you can eat buffet we called the “Bleat and Eat.”
It took a while before we calmed down. But with time, we settled in, explored the fenced acre and said “Hallo,” to the neighbors. I met the chickens and a ornery turkey named “Goblin.”
I found out my new mom was one of those “crafty types.” So when the day came that my dad sheared us, she kept our wool… and spun it into yarn. Pretty neat.
Time passed, and the longer we lived on the farm, the better it got. We got dewormed. I discovered the loquat bush, and the peach tree. (Delicious!) Mama Bea discovered she had a taste for the banana plants. We all gained weight, and I got pleasantly plump. And the three of us made more wool! Which meant more yarn!
But then, the unthinkable happened…
I got bitten by a dog that got into the yard.
It was bad. I lost my tail. I almost lost my life. The injury on my back end was so bad you could see my spine.
My dad saw the attack and came out running. Thank goodness. I thought I was a goner! He grabbed me, put me in the Jeep, and drove two hours to a sheep vet in the middle of the night. I had a very long surgery.
When we got home, dad built an ICU in the garage. I lived in there for three months.
My dad washed my wounds four times a day, and dressed my wound with some silver paste that made me look like I was wearing aluminum underwear. He hand fed me pain pills, and helped when my mom gave me antibiotic injections twice a day.
At night, I would cry. It was scary in the garage. My dad came out to keep me company and keep me quiet so everyone else in the house could sleep. He read books to me. I enjoyed “Stardust” by Neil Gaiman. Was a bit less fond of William Golding’s “The Paper Man.”
Here we are reading together at 3 AM:
It seemed like forever, but…. I RECOVERED! The vet called me a “wooly miracle.”
And my dad became my best friend. I call him my PaaaBaaa.
Mom got a lot better at spinning yarn. This of course was in no small part to my being a “wool expert.”
Here I am explaining the fine details of roving:
Some of my techniques were too advanced for those without hooves. Like this one:
I helped around the farm. When my PaaBaa planted the garden…. I tasted the vegetables. Later, I pruned the hibiscus bushes. When PaaBaa worked on the beehives, I stayed away, but I did eat a rose bush while he wasn’t looking. Baby Belle and I even helped fix the Jeep.
I was getting pretty good around the house, always at my parent’s sides. PaaBaa quipped that I should enroll in a correspondence course and get my degree.
I chose economics.
After my last shearing, we were sitting on the deck next to the koi pond talking about what to do with all the wool. The house was getting pretty overcrowded with yarns, spinning wheels, and big giant bags of wool fiber.
I suggested starting a small website. (That correspondence course wasn’t a waste with this sheep!)
PaaBaa said he’d do the accounting.
Mom said it was a wonderful idea.
I got a bank account. How many sheep do you know with one of those? The lady at the bank said I was the most entrepreneurial sheep she had ever met.
Mom started dying wool like crazy. The kitchen started to look like a colorful chemistry set. The garage turned into a woodshop, making yarn bowls and other things. Of course, I helped. I got pretty good at using a bench vise.
So here we are! On the web at last!
Who would have thought that a tiny slaughterhouse lamb like me would end up becoming a business sheep? Not me. I still can’t believe I’m part of a family.
-Sappho
Welcome to Sappho Spins. A small website built by a family whose lives were changed by the most unlikely creature imaginable: A curious, joyful, loving sheep that follows us around like a golden retriever, and asks for constant hugs.
If you like what we do, let us know. Over time, we’ll put up stories about the creatures on our farm, the yarn we make, and tips and techniques we learn along the way. As we make yarn and other objects, we’ll put them on the store. If there’s ever anything you would like us to create, drop us a line. Our contact information is at the bottom of our website.
And if you ever happen come across a sheep, old or young, in a petting zoo or on a farm… give them a couple of tasty leaves and let them know that Sappho says “Hello.” She’d like that.
